Adventure Magazine Cover — page 36: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

30 Then, leaving this body of his friend in his bed, he went from Moscow. Whither?” Bertrand shrugged and felt for his snuff- box. “Not to the Poles, Ill wager.” He laughed grimly. ‘“‘Pestel) What a fellow! Destruction to all he touches!” ‘‘He would not flee to the Cossacks. had betrayed them.” The merchant, who knew the courts of Europe, and the Cossack, who had fought under the monarchs of Asia, measured each other with understanding eyes. Kirdy took time to think over all that had been said, because he wished to have it firmly in his mind in order to decide what to do next. Bertrand mused along a different line. “St. Denis! I heard a rumor that the bride of the impostor did not seem to be dy- ing of grief. It may be that she knows he is alive.”’ “T have heard that woman’s tears are soon dried.”’ ‘‘Well, pardon me, but I have discovered otherwise, my friend. However, it is clear that the young —— has not taken his bride with him, if indeed he lives.”’ “Could he win a following from the army in the south?” The merchant shook his head and took snuff, wiping the brown grains from his coat carefully. “After the massacre in Moscow the Polish regiments will turn on the Musco- vites, and when the dog fight begins, the Tatars will plunder both. It is true that Sigismund’s regiments—and they are many —were sent hither to support this Dmitri. But when the time came to draw the sword he abandoned the army and fled like a jade- robbing knave from the city. Even so— such is the charm of his presence—the Mus- covite cavalry might have been won to his cause, but he mocked the traditions of these stiff-collars. He put an actor’s mask on the ikon stand. So now they say he has sold himself to Satan.” Bertrand smiled, contemplating the sav- agery of these pagans, as he chose to call them. “But where are you going?” Kirdy drew tighter his girdle and glanced out into the gathering dusk. “Perhaps this dog-soul is dead; perhaps not. But if he lives, he must have taken refuge in the steppes. He has good horses, and I go to follow while the trail is fresh.”’ He HAROLD LAMB Leaving the worthy merchant utterly astonished, Kirdy, hastened from the tavern and was turning into the open square where the great bell hung upon its stone dais, when he beheld torches moving in the same direction. CHAPTER VIII THE RIVER GATE ” ai EC VERAL riders, accompanied by Sera} 2 score of men-at-arms and link bearers, were entering the street where Nada’s house stood, driv- ing some captives with arms bound before them. Hastening his pace, Kirdy drew closer and recognized the bearded Tatikof among the horsemen. He passed behind the cavalcade, skirted the edge of the square to the mouth ofanalley that led to Nada’s stables. Then he ran as if a thousand fiends were at his heels. In the snow the footing was bad, and more than one log or wagon wheel made him plunge before he came out at the sheds and saw that they were empty. Nada’s sleigh, too, was not to be seen. A half-squad of Swedish halberdiers were standing talking by the gate-posts at the street end, evidently waiting for Tatikof and the company. Kirdy leaped to the rear steps of the house, and pushed at the door. It was fastened—barred by the feel of it. He thrust his fist through the tallow paper of the nearest window and called softly. Karai’s delighted bark answered him. He was half through the window when a figure appeared out of the darkness and he recognized Toghrul’s broad face. “The khanum must leave the house by this way,” he said quickly. ‘““The Musco- vites come for no good. Where are the horses?” “Allah!” grunted the tribesmen. “I saw the warriors with long spears, and I sent Karabek with the five horses and the sleigh away at once.” “To the khanum? Where is she?” “IT do not know. Karabek says she is buying clothes at the Jews’ bazaar. He will tell her of the coming of the Muscovites when he finds her—”’ A warning hiss from the old man made Kirdy aware of footsteps approaching the side of the house, and he hauled himself through the window without waiting to see who they might be. They proved to be DOOK C©